OTR or Local?

This is so true. I remember in the mid to late ninety's I drove same route every day I would literally zone out and not remember how I got to the other side.... Not safe at all

 

Except in prison you have a larger cell.

 

... So long as you don't sit for many days each and every week as tends to happen in the early phases of entry into the trucking game at the starter companies.

 

I'm glad I did OTR first. You'll learn so much being solo. You'll learn things that can't be taught.

Plus, you have time. No one is riding your ###.

Most local involves hitting the road and getting #### done in 12-14 hours PERIOD. There's not much time to google stuff or call receivers. You have a fixed number of tasks to complete in a fixed window.

OTR is much more forgiving. You can't be slack, or stupid but on your ten, you do have time to google earth places, route plan, and call ahead.

Basically, OTR gives you a lot of freedom and space to make mistakes, correct them, and move on.

Local trucking, from my experience, is get it and go and don't #### up.

YMMV

 

Good, honest post!

 

Agree 100%. I just finished the last day of my notice at my local job today. I go back OTR next week. I've ran end dumps hauling petroleum coke out of refineries as a local gig, and I've been pulling a pneumatic hauling flour to the Sara Lee plant in OKC as a local gig for the last 2 years. In the past I've ran OTR pulling food grade liquid as well as OTR pneumatic. Typical day at a local company is what you heard described above. It's a constant rush all day. No time for sit down dinners, barely enough time to stop and hit the bathroom. Throw in any kind of a run that requires relaying a trailer with another driver and the rush gets even worse, because everything you do affects him and likewise. The money can be close to the same. You'll just have to ask yourself whether you want a long, boring, stressful work day where you work with the same guys every day and deal with politics, in return you get 2 or 3 hours of couch time every evening before having to rush to bed. Or do you want a OTR job where you usually get a nicer truck, more cushy schedule, better scenery, variety of highways to run, and basically a more exciting job. On the downside, you sleep in the truck and chill in the sleeper in the evenings vs your couch. I'm 34 and close to your age. If you're thinking a local gig will allow you to have a social life and those weeknights or weekends out having drinks you may be in for a letdown. Hard to stay up late when you have a 330am alarm and 12-14 hour brutal work day staring you in the face. And a weekend doesn't mean much when you're working on one of the those days or have days off that rotate. Go OTR if she's willing to keep you company out there.

 

I never went OTR but I spent time with my Grandad in his truck when he was on a dedicated route. It was pretty chill and laid back. I'm a local driver. Every job is different but as a tanker driver I do 60-70 hours a week and if I do 14-16 I've gotta be back in 10 hours no matter what. I commute an hour home. So after 14/15 hours you come home in the middle of the night, brush your teeth and get 6 hours of sleep. It's a beating but it's worth it because I've got a wife as well that doesn't have to work and can raise our kids. It sucks at times but I'm very grateful that my company takes care of us especially this time of year.

 

Yeah, that would be a killer. Luckily that hasn't been the case with me. 3000+ mile weeks are the norm and I often wind up doing having to do resets while under a load.

 

I would never recommend OTR to a guy with kids. No job would be worth missing out on that.

 

It's a sacrifice I was willing to make in order to get the experience to run local and be home daily.

At times, especially when I'm off loading an 800 pound pallet to a dock that's 7" higher than the rear end of my trailer and the dock plate is see-sawing, I want to run back to my Volvo sleeper and do a Texas run.

As a relief driver, I'm pretty much guaranteed about three nights a week of really stressful situations that have me playing "I quit" scenarios in my head.

Oh yeah. Pretty much have to use the 16 hour rule once a week.

But, money is decent. And I like driving a 70' monster around, so I'm not going anywhere else anytime soon.